Japan is home to a variety of English conversation schools that will gladly hire anyone with any university degree. This requirement is in place to prevent people from poorer countries in Southeast Asia from entering Japan.
Listed below are the most popular and widespread options available within Japan, each with their own requirements for teachers.
Aeon
Aeon is a company of superior English teaching abilities that shirks traditional advertising. You won’t find any appealing television commercials, advertisements on trains, or even a good website. However, they make up for their public image shortcomings by offering classes taught entirely in English, with a focus on groups. Aeon is often regarded as the “secret Eikaiwa” among many Japanese, due to their large sign-up fees and hardened non-disclosure acts.
Gaba
Named after the GABA receptors in the brain that react to alcohol consumption, Gaba is the only eikaiwa in Japan to have the best advertising. Ranging from marionettes to large thought bubbles, they influences many Japanese to pursue English education by subtly hinting that their abilities are non-existent. They are quite successful.
Their main competitor is Berlitz, which strives for an image of professionalism, in which Gaba tries and fails. Gaba excels in appearing to be a fun alternative to most of the stuffy man-to-man choices available on the market.
Many students have reported that they have learned some English through Gaba.
Interac
Berlitz
ECC
Once famous for dressing their employees in red uniforms to differentiate them from the local Japanese, ECC has shed the red jackets and their racist ways and adopted a “don’t ask don’t tell” policy when it comes to being a foreigner. Currently, their spokesperson in the famous “Beat” Takeshi Kitano, whose English ability exists.
At the schools, students are expected to arrive on time for their group lessons, or else they will be locked outside of the classroom, due to the strict “no late students” policy.
ECC is the only school that actively encourages teachers to touch the students during the lessons.
Shane
Widely regarded as the language school of choice for those who wish to pick up British accents, their enrollment number plummeted. Nowadays, students are able to learn correct English that isn’t littered (or rubbished) with superfluous ‘e’s in every word.
Although it took years for them to realize, Shane now teaches the more popular America version of English in addition to their traditional and unpopular version. Shane discriminates against American applicants, which is legally allowed in Japan.
It’s good to see smoenoe thinking it through.
I have finished my job asimngsent in London and come back to Tokyo three weeks ago.Now I strongly miss the lessons of PS English, in which I learned a lot of useful expressions to be used on various occasions and also recognized a lot of my misunderstanding on English words.The students of PS English can create their lessons through their discussion with their teachers. I think it is the most important advantage of PS Englihs.I do hope that as many Japanese in London as possible can enjoy English conversation much better through the lessons PS English.
Hello. I am interested in coming to Japan for working. Please advise me to the best English School?
Hello Vidoo, thank you for your interest in Japan. It is a sock-shaped country with many different cities, the largest being Tokyo, Yokohama, Osaka, and Sapporo. There are large chains that operate in these cities. Any large chain would be appropriate to work at.
Best regards,
Bob
PS good luck, Vidoo!
Thanks again for the blog post.Thanks Again. Cool. agbbkkccgdddcbfe
I/you eikaiwa in Sendai is horrible. Do yourself a favor and stay away!
it is more horrible in eikaiwa ,management is not good as well as the payment
Thanks for the reviews! I didn’t know about the red blazers for ECC, it’s pretty good that they don’t have that anymore, sounds a bit weird :p
Just a quick note – I see that the info for Interac and Berlitz is missing. Can anyone give me advice on these guys? I’ve also heard about a company called Freecom that’s starting to get bigger (I think they’re opening in Tokyo pretty soon?).
Interac isn’t really regarded in the eikaiwa category since they dispatch teachers to public schools. I heard that they take a percentage of your wage or don’t pay for the school vacations.
I’ve heard of Freecom too. They opened in a rich part of Tokyo recently and seem to be on the rise. Weird that, considering the market’s meant to be shrinking and online companies are everywhere. Must have a bit of cash behind them.
i think you have a typo in this line
Currently, their spokesperson in the famous “Beat” Takeshi Kitano, whose English ability exists.